While typewriters have been widely used in offices for the majority of the twentieth century, the greatest proliferation of typing keyboards has occurred in the last 15 years since relatively powerful, inexpensive, general purpose computers become readily available in the marketplace. An explosive growth in the use of computers and their normally associated keyboards has taken place in most of the modern industrialized world.
Additionally, computers have tended to become smaller and most feature relatively lightweight keyboards that are physically detached from their associated computers, being connected only by a cable for carrying electrical representations of the keystrokes. This has led to the use of keyboards in many different physical settings, including the laps of users and on desk tops of varying heights from the floor.
The widespread proliferation of keyboards is believed to have contributed to a significant increase in the incidence of a repetitive motion stress syndrome known as carpal tunnel syndrome. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a serious condition that can lead to permanent damage of the nerves and joints and is often accompanied by numbness or tingling of the sufferer's hands. It is known that the numbness and tingling comes from compression of the median and ulnar nerves when the carpal ligaments repetitively move through the carpal tunnel structure in the wrist while the wrist is inappropriately positioned. The precise pathology of carpal tunnel syndrome is not fully understood. However, the condition has been studied and there is a significant amount of empirical data as to practices for one doing numerous repetitive hand and wrist movements that can reduce the severity of its symptoms. Furthermore, there are other painful conditions that result from the stress imposed by repetitive hand and wrist motions, the symptoms of which can be ameliorated by proper practices while typing. It should further be understood that the symptoms of hand and wrist repetitive stress syndromes are not limited to typists but also occurs in individuals who do a large number of repetitive motions of the fingers with the wrists in various positions, such as woodwind and keyboard players. These conditions are debilitating, can prevent the typist from working, and sometimes needs surgery to correct or alleviate the condition.
It is well known that the position and stress on the user's shoulders and forearms while performing repetitive motions of the fingers are important in controlling the severity of the symptoms of a victim of carpal tunnel syndrome. In particular, individuals who do an extensive amount of typing while using their shoulders and forearms to hold their hands in an elevated position tend to experience more severe symptoms than others. Furthermore, the ubiquitous presence of the QWERTY keyboard is believed to increase the typist's susceptibility to carpal tunnel syndrome for a given amount of typing. The QWERTY keyboard was intentionally designed to require numerous repetitive movements for typing English language documents. For example, the most commonly occurring letter in the English language (e) is not on the home row on a QWERTY keyboard and each typing of the "e" requires movement of the middle digit of the left hand of the typist. The keyboard was designed intentionally to slow down the typist when typewriters had mechanical linkages to type bars which carried the impacting type element. The keyboard was designed to prevent the typist from typing with a sufficient rapidity to have multiple type bars close to the type guide and platen so as to keep the type bars from jamming.
It is believed that the practice of some typists of using their shoulders to maintain their hands in an elevated position contributes to the onset of or exacerbates the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome. In view of this, the use of padded rails and the like as rests for the wrists of typists has become popular in recent years. However, it is known that merely resting the wrist while typing does not necessarily reduce the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and similar hand and wrist repetitive stress ailments.
The inventor of the present invention has discovered, by consultation with medical personnel familiar with hand and wrist repetitive stress ailments, that the best position for the hands of a typist is to have the thumb and extended fingers essentially parallel to the plane of the keys on a keyboard at which one is typing. Additionally, the hands or wrists should be supported without requiring use of the forearms and shoulders to hold the typists' hands in position. The inventor of the present invention believes that wrists rests of the type heretofore known have provided for support of the wrists or heel of the hand in a way that allows the typist not to hold his or her hands in an elevated position while typing, but that same have not adequately or fully addressed an apparatus designed to hold the typist's hands in the appropriate position in which the extended fingers stretch out parallel to a typical computer keyboard.